Using class libraries from different platforms

There are times where we need to use a library written in a different platform than the one we are currently on. Most of the times a port already exists and we can choose to go with that. Before using a port there are some good considerations:

The size of the original codebase.

The kind of project (is it a logger, an ORM, etc).

The current version of the original compared with the ported one. It depends on the activity of the original but if the ported is left 1+ year behind this is not a good sign.

The quality of the ported codebase, framework usage, coding conventions. Does it use recommeded guidelines for the target framework?

The activity of the ported project. If it's low that's a sign that future versions might now show up. However, consider contributing.

Besides ported code, there are cases where we can use a tool that allows us to use the original library from a different platform. For example, when working in .NET we can use Java class libraries through IKVM.NET which has a bytecode compiler called IKVMC.